disclaimer: yes, okay, i admit that i don't own any of the characters. but i do like to play with them :-) now, as for the plot, i know that i'm definitely NOT the first person to do an L/J christmas fic involving mistletoe... if i accidentaly copied your plot, i'm really really sorry! i just felt like writing this story, and i really didn't mean to steal the products of anyone else's creative genius.

so... right. this takes place on christmas eve of lily and james's 7th year. i wrote it a few days ago, but i forgot to post it; i guess it probably won't make it up onto ff.net until the 26th, but i figured there's no harm in uploading it. anyway, enjoy!

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"JAMES!" Lily's yell rang loud and clear from the dormitory, and in the common room, the few first- and second-years that happened to be sitting between the staircase and the place where the Marauders were sitting scooted out of the way. Though relations between Lily and James had been significantly calmer since the beginning of the year, there were still occasional explosions – which everyone in Gryffindor Tower knew to avoid. Sure enough, it wasn't long before a fuming Lily burst into the common room and made a beeline for the Head Boy. She stopped a few feet in front of him and put her hands on her hips.

"Which one of you did it?" Lily stared accusingly at all four of the seventh-year boys in front of her. "Which one? I know it was one of you. I swear, I'll kill you!"

James gave her a questioning look. "Did what, Lily?"

"THIS!" Lily pointed upward, and, looking up, James stifled a laugh. Someone had charmed a sprig of mistletoe to hang above Lily's head and follow her around, occasionally pelting her with the plant's little white berries.

"I don't know," James said, with a hint of a smile, "but it certainly wasn't I." He turned around to face Remus, Peter, and Sirius. "Any of you lot want to confess?"

Lily glared at the three boys behind James. "Oh yes. Was it you, Peter? No. Of course not. You would at least have had help from the mischievous Mr. Black, anyway. Remus? No, you know better than to prank me. Siri – Sirius. It was you. DON'T try to shake your head and deny it." Sirius shrugged in submission, and Lily's rant continued. "I see that look in your eye. You are the most immature, frustrating, annoying –"

James interrupted her. "Shhhh, Lils, calm down. I'm sure Sirius just wanted to spread the holiday spirit. He didn't mean anything by it. Now, Sirius," he said, turning to look at his best friend, "you know we've had a truce with Lily since the beginning of this year. Please do whatever it is you need to do to get rid of the mistletoe that seems to be frustrating her so much." He crossed his arms in front of his chest and waited for an answer.

Sirius shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "Well, you see, Prongsie, there's not much I can do about it. It's more something that… ah, you can do about it." He smirked. "But I'm not telling you what."

"You mean I have to walk around with this thing hanging above my head until I just happen to figure out how to vanish it?" Lily's look became, if possible, even more murderous.

"Well, no, Lily dear," said Sirius, "that's not quite true. It'll go away by midnight on Christmas – tomorrow, that is – if you don't get rid of it before then. So you could just wait. But if you're really determined to get rid of it earlier, I'm sure you can figure out a way."

"Sirius! Tell me!" Lily pulled her lips into a pout and gave him her most irresistible puppy dog eyes, but it was to no avail. Sirius simply shrugged, announced he was hungry, and dragged Remus and Peter off to the kitchens, leaving Lily and James alone in the common room with the few first- and second-years that had stayed at school for the holidays.

Lily turned to James, a pleading look on her face. "Can you think of any way to get rid of the mistletoe? Please? I really really don't feel like having to kiss everyone that I accidentally get too close to."

"Oh really? Does that mean there are some people that you'd like to kiss if you accidentally get too close to them?" A mischievous grin came over James's face, but it was only met by what could be described as a Look with a capital L from Lily.

"Come on, James, just help me get rid of it. Please?"

"Fine, fine, fine. I know where Sirius keeps his stash of books with spells and charms good for pranking. We can look through them and see if we can find anything. Wait here; I'll be right back." With the sigh of someone making a tremendous sacrifice, James heaved himself out of his chair and made his way to his dormitory. Lily sat in the Common Room waiting for him, thinking that he'd changed quite a bit since last year; before, he would have been the one to charm the mistletoe to follow her around, and he would have tried to get as close to her as possible, so she'd have to kiss him. But now, he was patiently trying to help her. It was definitely a change for the better.

James returned only a few minutes later with a small stack of books. "Here," he said, handing the top few to Lily. "I guess we should probably start by looking for anything having to do with Christmas."

They spent about fifteen minutes scanning through the indexes of the books, looking at Christmas spells for things like "Caroling Ornaments" and "Exploding Christmas Sweets." There was only one spell that had anything to do with mistletoe, but it was only meant to make kisses under it more passionate and didn't mention anything about making the plant follow someone around.

James looked up from the last book in the pile and frowned. "Well, Lils, what else should we try looking under? I admit that the indexes for these books are a little spotty… none of the indexes have anything at all about mistletoe, yet we did find that one spell. Whatever spell Sirius used could be anywhere in these books, but we'll never know unless we figure out which keyword to look under."

Lily put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. "I don't know. What would you use mistletoe for? Getting people to kiss?"

"Matchmaking, maybe?"

Lily shrugged. "It's a possibility. We might as well see if there're any matchmaking spells in these books. Or spells having to do with kissing. I don't know." With a sigh, she dragged her small pile of books toward her and began to skim through each book's index for the second time.

There was silence for several minutes, but it ended with a small gasp from Lily. "Look, James, I think I found it." She turned the book around and listened as he read the spell's description aloud.

"Matchmaking for the Winter Holidays. This spell can be used starting the week before Christmas, and allows one to enchant mistletoe to follow the target/victim around. The mistletoe will vanish of its own accord at midnight on Christmas day, but to have it disappear earlier, the victim must share a kiss with a person specified by the spell caster. The spell is performed as follows…"

James stopped reading and ran his hand through his hair – something that Lily didn't find quite as annoying as she used to. "Well, Lils, it looks like we found the spell." He shrugged. "Only problem is, I don't really have any idea who Sirius would want to force you to kiss. Any suggestions?"

Lily bit her lip and thought for a moment. She was about to say no when an image from the previous week flashed through her head. She'd been talking to Sirius, and he'd been pleading with her about… oh, what had he said? Come on, Lils, give James a chance. He really likes you, and he's been trying really hard to not be such a git. Which I don't like, because it means he tries to force the Marauders to behave. Please? Just give him a chance? Before I do something drastic? Lily's eyes went wide and she glanced over at James, then dropped her gaze. "I think…" she began slowly, refusing to look at him, "I think he wants me to kiss you."

James was silent for a moment before risking a look at Lily. She was still staring at her hands. "Oh," he said, biting his lip. "Not that I'd mind… but I know you don't like me very much. I guess… if you really don't want to go down to the feast and things with that mistletoe hanging over you, I could make some excuse for you and bring you some food later…"

Lily looked up at him as he trailed off into silence. She couldn't believe he was being this mature about it. And Sirius's words chose that moment to echo in her head: He really likes you. Come on, Lils, give James a chance.

She smiled and stood up. "No, James, I don't think that will be necessary." And, completely forgetting that they weren't quite alone in the Gryffindor Common Room, she walked over to where James was sitting and kissed him full on the lips.

It took a few moments before the first- and second-years realized what was happening, but after they noticed, it didn't take them long to start cheering and whistling. As Lily broke away from the kiss with an embarrassed grin on her face, the mistletoe over her head exploded in a shower of red and green sparkles. James looked at her with an expression of awe mixed with confusion. "Wow, Lils, were you really that frustrated with the mistletoe?"

Lily tried to hold back the smile that was threatening to take over her face. "No… I've just decided that you're really not an arrogant, bullying toerag anymore."

James winced, remembering the day in fifth year when she'd called him that. And then he remembered something else. "Does that... does that mean… would you still rather go out with the giant squid than me?"

After pretending to consider for a moment, Lily shook her head. "No, James, I'd infinitely prefer to go out with you."

James grinned and pulled her toward him for a second kiss.

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(and merry christmas, if you celebrate it... if not, happy winter, happy hanukkah, happy winter solstice, happy kwanza... you know what i mean!)